2026 recruiting

[3397char]

Yeah, they have the money. SMU has the money as well. I am surprise that SMU did not go after her with all the money they have.

SMU has zero WBB tradition nor fans, so heir only entree into elite basketball is money. Of course SMU has enough billionaires that only a couple of them could decide to make them relevant in basketball as a pet project. But as of today that has not happened. And there is no reason to believe that will change. Of course Texas at Austin has twice as many billionaires as SMU and 3X the athletic budget/revenue. Thinking that SMU will just outbid them is not logical.

 

[Jriv23]

3397Char, I do not think you read the article that went out when SMU first came into the ACC. If so, then you would know that SMU has more money than Texas. You should know that Dallas has more billionaires in one area than they do in Austin that is what the article mainly stated. I do not want to go back and re-harsh all of this now. The article did say that a lot of the people who back Texas and Arkansas were the ones who were first supporters SMU once the scandal hit in 1987 and the death penalty hit they left and supported Texas and Arkansas. Once SMU was able to get back into a power 5 conference, those supporters switched back to SMU. I sent an article about a year ago explaining all of this. How do you think the football team was able to come in last year and make it to the ACC championship game last year. They have money. I do agree that SMU women's basketball team does not have the tradition nor the fans as Texas and this is the reason why Bjorn went there. The article did say that SMU raised over 100 million in 7 days because. The other school in Texas including Texas has done this before. I will leave at that.

 

[AlWoodfor2]

nah it is pretty clear we are a legit finalist. My guess is that we were given the chance to match her best offer, but could not.

Goodman reported a while back that Iowa lead and we were in 2nd in her estimation. It was then reported earlier in this thread that Iowa allegedly offered a package $300K more than ours. The consensus was Iowa lead.

Then rumors started swirling two days ago that there was a new leader. Texas may have just knocked her socks off 3 weeks ago on her visit and it took time for this to become apparent. Or somehow TX gave a last minute pitch at her dining room table and wooed her.

But the logical conclusion is that TX beat the Iowa offer, other suitors were informed. None matched. then all the other schools knew they were beat and rumors started leaking out.

Of course all the above could be a complete fiction. We are dealing with rumors and gossip here. But generally we do know that money is the name of the game in college sports now. Relationships only get you to the auction.

Definitely TX would beat any offer made by Iowa.

 

[3397char]

3397Char, I do not think you read the article that went out when SMU first came into the ACC. If so, then you would know that SMU has more money than Texas. You should know that Dallas has more billionaires in one area than they do in Austin that is what the article mainly stated. I do not want to go back and re-harsh all of this now. The article did say that a lot of the people who back Texas and Arkansas were the ones who were first supporters SMU once the scandal hit in 1987 and the death penalty hit they left and supported Texas and Arkansas. Once SMU was able to get back into a power 5 conference, those supporters switched back to SMU. I sent an article about a year ago explaining all of this. How do you think the football team was able to come in last year and make it to the ACC championship game last year. They have money. I do agree that SMU women's basketball team does not have the tradition nor the fans as Texas and this is the reason why Bjorn went there. The article did say that SMU raised over 100 million in 7 days because. The other school in Texas including Texas has done this before. I will leave at that.

You and I had this discussion back when SMU joined the conference. and for the record, you have been more right than me; SMU has been a bigger player in football and a few other sports than I predicted.

I would argue that while they do not have teh facilities and athletic department breadth of their new P4 peers (that takes time) they did do a really good job of directly targeting NIL specifically to improve their football team very quickly.

Texas at Austin has more Billionaires that SMU. there are various measures on Wikipedia here that show UT on every list, but SMU on none of them. Of course that does not mean that these rich guys want to fund football or Harvard, Stanford and Upenn would be in the playoffs every year.

What matters who how many rich people care about your sports. SMU clearly cares about football. UT does as well and UT has tons more tradition, 4X alumni, SEC money, and yes more billionaires. so they will stay in front of SMU.

Texas has also found enough people who care about basketball, both men's and women's. as of right now, there appears to be not as much interest in MBB, and near zero interest in WBB. That could change, but I doubt it.

They did take a swing at a better WBB coach. we will see if any success or any recruiting budget, follows that as well. They have probably 4-5 schools in their own state that they lag seriously behind in basketball.

SMU is basically Miami University. Small alumni base, but a few wealthy, rabid football fans. They just have a lot of catching up to do in football, and certainly most every other sport outside of soccer, golf and tennis. I earlier compared them to Wake Forest with some money. I was wrong.

 

[23UNC]

It's simple math. We are giving 250k in revenue share to women's basketball and Texas is giving a million. I have no idea what our girls are getting in NIL, but I would assume Texas is ahead of us there as well.

 

[bradarb08]

Sucks, but I’d rather an athlete pick UNC because it’s where she wants to be as opposed to just coming here because we were the highest bidder. NIL is a good thing for players, but the system in place for it is brutal.

 

[23UNC]

Let also be honest. Texas is also a top 3-4 team.

 

[7milesrivals]

6-4 Aussie W/F Sitaya Fagan reportedly going to announce 4 finalists soon

Aussie teen sensation's record NCAA interest | Basketball.com.au

Sitaya Fagan has a record 26 NCAA Power Four offers, the most ever for an Australian women’s player.

www.basketball.com.au

She has self-reported P4 26 offers, including UNC, which is an all-time record for an Aussie.




Highlights:



Note: with the changing landscape of player compensation, it remains unclear how revenue share applies to athletes on an F-1 (student) visa. the general consensus is that it is not allowed. In addition, any active participation in NIL advertising is also not allowed, which includes content creation and signed memorabilia. That leaves passive activities, like selling of name, image and likeness, like video games, jerseys and similar. or deals that are signed and executed overseas. Such NIL is a new niche and not every team is pursuing it.


All of this is to say that international players right now are comparatively a bargain; they will not factor into your rev share budget. And if your school can work with partnered businesses to navigate some international NIL deals even just a little, this may be a niche you can stand out in for international recruits. So if you can swing it, this could be a really smart way to fill out your roster with talent that is secured under their market value when compared to U.S. players.

I have no idea where UNC stands in this way, but UNC MBB has stated a commitment to seeking international talent, and has two such recruits coming in. UNC WBB, to my knowledge, has made no such public commitment, but the recent results speak for themselves: Taissa Querioz (BRA) and Elina "The Finnisher" Aarnisalo (FIN) were just added to the team. (Henderson has dual USA and Can citizenship so does not apply to her.) Elina's agency is SIG Sports out of Netherlands.

I

ok got it. what I don't like is and I know Bjorn is a great kid right , she seems like an overwhelming smart and classy kid, but following our staff and players. pre announcement just stirs the pot for everyone and has a lot of people's mind wondering and people speculating. After announcement if you decide to follow our staff and players Kool

Also I think we are all adults here and I'm just going to be honest with everyone, the good things I said about UT. prior announcement and when we found out where she's going, it took a lot of me I mean alot, I had to reach down in the juggler to muster the courtesy to speak good about Texas

Here's why I didn't start watching college sports until 91 when I moved east from the West Coast, then that first year I fell in love with UNC men's and women's basketball team, yes I'm from the West coast but I began watching college sports here on the East coast those 2 teams who I began watching and fell in love. Donald Williams and Charlotte Smith are my all time favorites.

fast forward a year or 2 I began watching college ,I was hearing bout the Bamas ,Texas,Miami, Oklahoma, Florida States etc, I wanted to go with an underdog then someone know one was talking about, I began watching Texas a&m football and fell in love,Javorski lane and Stephen Mcgee are my favorites,no at the time I was not watching UNC football , ironically my grandfather and father is from texas so there is that.

 

[7milesrivals]

So nevertheless to the point I hate Texas just as much as I hate dook, they are on equal grounds. so Im not got to root against Bjorn nor am I going to root for her, or wish her I'll will I'll just be very quiet and reserved when the topic comes up again bout her

 

[6string]

In this pay for play world it will be difficult for UNC to maintain year to year top ten level talent. We will have our wins as we already have but it will be difficult to stack top ten level talent like some do.

 

[7milesrivals]

A statement win on Dec 4th in Austin would be terrific

 

[7milesrivals]

This is for coach. and her staff lets be more coordinated and. well sound on Dec 4th rather than play free for all ball like we did in Vegas against UCLA in the past.

 

[7milesrivals]

Jenica Lewis picks Notre Dame

I saw where Irish fans are in an uproar because she chose not to sign her letter of intent on final day of signing period? Now it's April. Unless you guys think something funky is going on here to could Lewis also end up at Texas?